KUALA LUMPUR: The move by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) to seize assets allegedly linked to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is legally flawed, says a senior Malaysian-born Australian lawyer.

Quintin Rozario, a prominent litigation lawyer in Brisbane, said by making public statements on Malaysian individuals allegedly to have laundered illicit funds into the US, its Attorney-General Loretta Lynch had herself committed "excesses and breaches of natural justice".

Rozario told Bernama from Brisbane that Lynch overstepped the mark and her authority by concluding that an offence or offences had been committed by Malaysia or its agents.

"She went further by implying that they were guilty of the offence by making assertions without a scintilla of proof or a valid court decision that could back her assertions.

"In order for that to occur, the Malaysian defendants ought to first to have been heard. They were not," he said.

Rozario said it was a legal principle that even the most vile criminals were deserving of and entitled to the doctrine of natural justice under the constitution.

"The right to be heard and to be afforded an opportunity to present their defence, to challenge the assertions and charges and the evidence against them and for the respondents in this matter to confront their accusers has not yet arisen.

"For the highest legal officer of the land in Loretta Lynch to act in such an arbitrary manner as she has recently is to deny the respondents a fair hearing or any hearing at all. Loretta has become judge, jury and executioner all in one," he added.

Rozario said the US Attorney-General's actions were also clearly against a decision made by the US Supreme Court in 2014 in the case of Daimler vs Baume, in which the apex court ruled that any violation or act committed by residents in the US, their conduct could not be attributed to the government or as in this case, 1MDB.

"Instead the Supreme Court ruled that their activities would only establish specific jurisdiction in the state they reside in the US," he said.

The lawyer also spoke of the US record of observing international law, which he described as "inconsistent at best and selective and flawed at worst".

He said the US had the economic, political and military might to exercise over those who it could and wished to subdue.

"Loretta Lynch's approach to 1MDB follows a long line of authority of the US using strong-arm tactics on smaller states. It does this by appropriating to itself powers to dilute Malaysia's sovereignty and to enforce against it 'legal obligations' usurping that power from the US and Malaysian courts and other arms of their government," he added.

Rozario's arguments reinforced Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's remark on Thursday that due process needed to be respected and that those named in the DOJ action should have a chance to defend themselves, including in court. – Bernama

Perkembangan 4: Isu DOJ tidak libatkan Putrajaya tapi individu-individu
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 ― The federal government of Malaysia is not named as a defendant in the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) civil lawsuit over state-owned investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) assets, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said today.

Azalina also said the lawsuit is a “private” matter which she believed did not require the Malaysian government to step in.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has just withdrawn its previous restraining order made in its civil lawsuit to seize assets made on July 20th against Najib stepson Riza Aziz's Red Granite pictures.

Due to this, Red Granite is allowed to operate normally and banks are ordered by the DOJ to continue dealing with Red Granite. Riza is also back in the USA to make his films.

DOJ will also "hold harmless" business partners, and vendors of Red Granite.

The current income from the films "Friends with Kids" and the very successful “The Wolf of Wall Street” can also be used to meet existing commitments or pay vendors or loans but future income of these two films will be kept in escrow pending the outcome of the civil lawsuit by the DOJ.

So far, Red Granite's films combined have made over USD800 million - including USD400 million from the “The Wolf of Wall Street” and continues to make many millions per year from sales to cable TV, sales and rental of DVDs and online services such as Netflix.

Riza had previously been accused by the DOJ of taking USD200 million of funds related to 1MDB but Riza had said these were loans which WSJ had previously reported that Riza's company had paid back a significant portion of.

Red Granite’s latest film, a remake of the 1973 prison-break film “Papillon,” is about to start production.

Over the past week or so, the PakaTun have been spreading all sorts of rumours saying Najib is afraid of going overseas and that Riza has been smuggled out of the USA back to Malaysia using diplomatic passports coz he is scared of getting arrested.

End up that Najib is in Indonesia since yesterday to talk to Jokowi to settle a Sulawesi Sea dispute between Indonesia and Malaysia while Riza is in the USA making films.

PakaTun people lie a lot and like spreading ugly rumours - just like how they recently fitnah Rosmah over pictures with Sultan of Pahang taken from a misleading angle.